The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation closed its file
on Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel in 2001 after deciding he was not a
security
threat, documents released under U.S. Freedom of Information laws have
revealed.

"In view of the fact that there is no indication
that the subject is, or ever has been, involved in any acts of violence,
acts of terrorism or any other criminal activity within the United States,
recommend this case be closed administratively," an FBI report
concluded
on April 9, 2001.

The agency's conclusion is in stark contrast to that
of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which believes Mr. Zundel's
status as an inspirational guru to the extreme right renders him a danger
to national security.

Also unlike the FBI, which saw Mr. Zundel as nothing
more than a Holocaust revisionist, CSIS believes him to be a white
supremacist.

Mr. Zundel arrived in Canada in 1958, but was never
granted
citizenship. He has been in a Toronto jail for 18 months awaiting
deportation
to Germany under a rarely used security certificate.

Defence lawyers Peter Lindsay and Chi-Kun Shi received
the FOI material from Mr. Zundel's U.S. defence team two days ago -- the
day after a Federal Court of Canada proceeding involving Mr. Zundel's
pending
deportation ended.

Yesterday, they forwarded the documents to the presiding
judge, Mr. Justice Pierre Blais, in the hope he will consider them as
evidence.

Judge Blais is expected to rule in the next few weeks
on whether the issuance of a special security certificate against Mr.
Zundel
was "reasonable." Should he rule that it is, the notorious
publisher
of Holocaust revisionist material has no right of appeal.

Mr. Zundel's lawyers have repeatedly accused the federal
government of misusing special legislation aimed at terrorists to expel
a man who has no criminal record, yet whose activities have made him an
embarrassing thorn in their side.

Mr. Lindsay expressed frustration in an interview yesterday that the FOI material arrived too late to become part of the deportation
proceeding. "I would have put this in as evidence and relied on
it,"
Mr. Lindsay said.

The FBI opened its file on Mr. Zundel when he moved to
Tennessee with his wife. He was picked up and deported to Canada on Feb.
19, 2003, after missing an appointment with a U.S. immigration officer.
As soon as Mr. Zundel was delivered to Canada, he was jailed and the
deportation
process began.

The April 9, 2001, report noted the FBI's source did
not believe Mr. Zundel had direct connections to white supremacists.